Better Man

He was a broken man of sorts; a man who had the world thrown at him from all sorts of angles. Just like any other human being, he’s had his downs and he’s had his ups, but as of lately he began to wonder: where was that medium? You know, where everything is great and you don’t have to worry about too much—just the little things. Things like, what was for dinner tonight? Would I like it? And if not, do I lie to my wife and shove it down my throat without a complaint?

But life wasn’t like that, not for him at least. All his friends have found themselves a woman and have settled down—even Brian, who is thought to live up to the ‘rock star’ image. If anyone knew him like the rest of his band mates did, they would realize that Brian was just your average guy, who found comfort in just one woman.

They were tying the knot.

Zacky once had; as he sat there with his eyes on the empty glass cup in front of him, he imagined those bright blue eyes of hers and hair that was untamable. It was so red, and her soul was just so…blaze-likethat he had actually pondered if she was born from fire and not some woman who died giving birth to her.

“Hey, man,” Someone broke Zacky’s thoughts—and he was grateful, because slowly those blazing eyes were turning into lifeless gray ones and that was not the place he wanted to visit; not today or tomorrow. Zacky looked up into the eyes of his friend Johnny, who was gazing down at him with worry.

“Hey, Christ.” He murmured as he motioned for the bartender to grab him another beer. It was only his second—he’s learned not to drink away the pain now. The last time that happened it didn’t end so well.

There was a reason why he was so lonesome these days.

With the sound of a crying baby stuck in the back of his mind, Zacky turned and angled his body so that he could See Johnny clearly. “How you feeling today?” Zack, any other day, would have rolled his eyes and would have told him to shut up—he was sick and tired of everyone asking him this shit. Was he okay? Fuck no! Did it look like he was o-fucking-kay? But he wasn’t in the mood for snarky-Zacky today, so a sigh left his lips as he brought his shoulders up in a shrug. “I suppose that is an answer. So, listen, Matt wants to get back to the studio; he thinks it’s about time that we do, and everyone agrees.”

“Whatever.” Zack muttered as he turned to the voice of the bartender telling him the drinks there. He grabbed the glass, took a large swig and put it back on the table.

“Man, come on.” Johnny said. “Jimmy would want this!”

Zacky’s head snapped towards Johnny—he was just in a terrible mood today. Gnomeo over here wasn’t helping the cause, either, not by bringing up his deceased band-mate. “Well, I want to do shit too, but guess the fuck what? I can’t get what the fuck I want.”

Johnny snickered. “You’re being a selfish prick, Zack.”

“Fuck you, Johnny.” Zacky muttered under his breath before drinking the rest of the alcohol. When he finished, he looked over at Johnny and he could see the worry—and bit angry—laced within his features. “Tell Matt that I’m not fucking interested at the moment.”

Johnny watched helplessly as one of his best friends stormed out of the bar. Sighing in defeat, he realized he would have to be the bearer of bad news to the guys over by the pool tables. As he stood up from the table, the bartender coughed as he cleaned out some glasses. “He didn’t pay the tab.”

Johnny groaned, pulled out his wallet and slapped down twenty bucks, not knowing how much his best friend had consumed. It couldn’t have been many—that much he was sure of. They have only been there for two hours and he knew fairly well that Zacky was cutting down on the drinks. Ever since he lost his son James, Zacky’s been trying to do a lot of things. Pushing his hands into his blue-jeans, Johnny made his way back towards his friends.

Vaguely, he made a note to talk to the boys later about Zacky’s behavior. So when he shook his head in a defeated manner and grabbed a stick, he knew that they understood and went back to doing what they were doing.

They needed to get Zacky some help, before they lost another best friend and band mate.